


Relations

by JenCforCarolina



Series: Auburn [11]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-03-04 13:58:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13366170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenCforCarolina/pseuds/JenCforCarolina
Summary: After the Red War, the state of the City has shifted. Guardians will have new roles, one is becoming apparent today.





	1. Chapter 1

“I would just like the record to show,” Zavala intoned. “That if this were a team of only my Guardians, I would not authorize this operation.”

“Yes you would.” Half-distant Exo static mixed with humor. “You’re sending his lucky girl with them!”

Auburn carefully controlled her tone as she glared daggers back at the other Vanguard. “I am no man’s _lucky girl_ , Cayde.”

“You know a lot of artificials don’t carry on the human concept of gender.”

“I am aware, since I wasn’t the one who spent the last decade locked in a tower.” He winced for her, for show, and faded back into the background commotion of the terrace.

“Anyway.” It was Hawthorne who pulled the small group back on topic. “They aren’t your Guardians. They’re people who choose their own way. Their lives are not yours to control anymore.” It’s a barb, there are still a few between the pair, but ever cooperative, Zavala did not appear to take offense.

“One of them is.” He gestured to his Titan, Auburn refrained from squirming. “And despite things, their lives are still ones we wish to protect. I would only like to impress upon you how difficult you are making that goal.”

“The team is adamant. They’ll go regardless of if you want them to or not. This way at least you get to keep an eye on them while they work. That’s the compromise, that’s what all this is about, isn’t it?” Her gaze flicks to the junior Titan.

Zavala heaved a sigh of displeasure and also glanced to Auburn, who shruged amicably.

“That is… the goal. They tell us when they’re going to do something dangerous and crazy and we… try to keep them alive.” Her pitch to the Vanguard trio the other day had been much more concise and persuasive, but now that it was approved, she felt a weight of responsibility, despite Zavala and Hawthorne being the pair to oversee the operations.

“I feel like I am prepared for this one.” She offered as well. “I know how to be careful around him. You’re not sending _Cayde_.” Zavala’s half-chuckle is drowned out by a cacophonous packet of auditory protest from behind them.

“If there was anyone meant for this job, it _is_ you.” Zavala relented. She accepted the praise with a bowed head.

“That’s settled then.” Hawthorne pushed back from the table and moved to rejoin a Warlock that had been waiting for her nearby. “Your people are waiting for you by the Gunsmith. Give them the good news. And stay safe.” Auburn gave her a small smile and a two-fingered salute, striding away with purpose, helmet off and taking deep breaths.

She honestly liked the idea of this mission, not because it was particularly fun, or rewarding, but because she truly thought it was important. She figured she would be doing this anyway even if Zavala and Hawthorne had not leapt at her idea. 

There was a new order forming in the City, as people recovered from the devastation, and grew bolder. Some clusters of non-guardians wanted payback, wanted a chance to pop the head off a Cabal themselves. Some wanted salvage, materials, things to rebuild homes with. Some wanted to scout for outpost locations, villages. 

Some, evidently, wanted to speak to a Warmind. Now more than ever, a Guardian’s job was to protect the people. Especially when the City’s people are dead set on going out into the dangerous wilds, often without an inkling of how to survive on their own.

Just as Hawthorne said, there was a cluster of four non-guardians hovering next to Banshee’s new stall. All human, all rag tag and a bit scruffy. An older man with greying hair and a younger woman who could be his daughter stood over a rusty table. It was covered in an assortment of weapons and ammo packs, and they were sorting and inspecting everything. A young man with a scowl and a patched up city militia jacket sat on a container of Olomon coolant, leaning against a stack of lashed together crates. He had a coupled sidearms holstered and an impressive amount of ammo packs strapped over his chest. A tall blonde woman stood beside him with a sniper rifle slung across her back, surveying the pair at the table.  
It was the young man who noticed her first, sniffed when he saw her turn towards them and said, “Well.” The rest of the group turned at his voice, caught sight of her as well, and stopped what they had been doing to pay full attention. Auburn felt like she was approaching a jury.

“Hi.” She raised a hand in greeting. “I’m your escort.” They looked at her like they were surprised she had a face. She gave them a moment to respond but after getting nothing, moved on to introductions. “My name’s Auburn.”

“Auburn who?” The young man asked with a half a sneer, like she’d said something wrong. She rolled with it, tried to flicker back to a smile. She’d had rough starts with fireteams in the past, a little attitude was nothing she couldn’t handle. But since towerfall, it had been more and more difficult to stay upbeat and positive, even with the reconstruction progressing well all over the City.

“Just Auburn me.” Trying to force a little laughter into it made her squint her eyes shut, push her thumb into her belt. “I’m nobody else.”

“But you don’t have a family name?” The short woman asked, less confrontational and more curious. It was her sincerity that knocked Auburn off balance.

“Uhm. None that I remember.” She admitted. “I probably had one once. Truthfully Auburn isn’t even the name my parents gave me, I just don’t remember that either.” Shrugging, she continued. “You have to choose a name, kind of on the spot, when your Ghost asks. Some of us aren’t lucky enough to have one already on our tongues.” 

The silence that dragged out after that was solemn. Auburn was aware she had the complete attention of all four pairs of eyes.

“Anyway!” Re-clasping her helmet in her hands, she straightened her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to go there.”

“I didn’t mean to bring that up!” The woman blurted. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” She assured her. “No harm done. A little storytelling never hurt a team. Anyone have anything equally odd and tragic to share, perchance? Make me feel less like an outsider.”

“Nope.” The young man spat, just as the kind little woman moved towards Auburn and put out a hand for shaking, completely ignoring the other in her group.

“You can call me Ning. Maybe we’ll all just stick to one name we’d like to be called.” Auburn shook on it, nodded appreciatively.

“You know, we Guardians have a legend of a great Titan, her name was Wei Ning. Her abundance of bravery was matched only by her kindness.” This brought a bashful smile to the girl’s cheeks. The older man stepped up next, introduced himself as her father, Jaing. The blonde woman gave a strong handshake and called herself Era.

From the crates, the last member just sniffed. “Dawson, or sir. You being a military type ought to understand that.”

“I don’t, really.” She replied truthfully. “I think I was meant to be a scholar. I’ve always loved tales and history. This-” She patted the scout rifle across her back. “-has just been a necessity I’ve grown into. And grown quite good at.”

“You’re not even a soldier?” He spat, scowling at her with disdain. “What kind of a Guardian are you?”

“The one who’s going to keep your hide alive, if you insist on coming along on this harebrained scheme.” She kept her light tone and her composure, switching tact to address the entire group. “You’ve all picked quite the lord to request an audience with. I was assigned to you because I know him best.”

“You know somewhere to sneak in? Behind his defenses?” Era perked up, listening intently.

“He’s an unshackled Warmind under no one's oversight but his own, and easily the most omnipotent creature on the planet. There is no sneaking around. You ask his permission and hope he grants it to you. Lucky for you, he likes me.”

“That’s the situation. I’m half here to make sure a Fallen Devil doesn’t get you through the skull with a wire rifle, and half to try to secure you a chance to speak with the Warmind. If he’ll listen to anyone, it’ll be me. But this also means I have final say to call this off.” Her tone turned serious. “There is nothing more critical than getting all four of you out of hostile territory alive. We can come back for data, we can lose supplies. But I am responsible for all of your wellbeing, so I am in charge of safety, go it?”

She got only an array of serious nods from all, even a begrudging one from Dawson. Satisfied with the response, she relaxed her posture again, moved closer to the table with weapons laid out. “Show me what you’ve got, what you’re good with.”

Jaing had been quiet until then, but at prompting showed off three hand cannons in impressive condition, and a near encyclopedic knowledge of their parts and working.

“Those two are mine.” He said, gesturing to the two to the side while finishing reassembly on the last. “And this one is my Ning’s.” The girl took it carefully and holstered the weapon like it was a stick of dynamite.

“Uncomfortable?” Auburn asked her. “If you expect it to bite you, it will.”

Ning hesitated. “I’m more of the… tech girl.” She replied sheepishly.

“I will watch her back while she does what she needs to.” Jaing promised, putting an arm around his daughter’s shoulders.

“And we watch theirs.” Era added. 

Auburn nodded in approval. “And I will protect everyone’s.”

Dawson sniffed at that, evidently still looking for a fight. “If you can’t protect the City what makes you think you can protect us?” He challenged.

That was it, enough for her to snap. Before she herself even realized what she was doing, Auburn suddenly spun around and glared down at him. “And why didn’t you stop the Cabal, militia man?” He looked just a bit shocked at the turn of her demeanor. “There are more of you than there are of us, but you shift all the blame from yourself. We were thirty thousand strong before all this, you were two hundred thousand. Why didn’t you stop them from destroying our Tower, ravaging our home?” She jabbed a finger at his chest.

“Half our people _died in the attack_.” He spat back, but he was sputtering.

“And _all_ of ours did!” She roared. “At _least_ twice each! I died nine times before the Light was taken! Nine times I took slugs to the chest, seven of which would have hit civilians if I had not _thrown myself in the way_! Do **_not_** continue to paint our failure against such impossible odds as a lack of trying!”

The silence that dragged out after engulfed the area. Banshee’s usual whistling was absent, and those in earshot, even as far as the cryptarch, had stopped to witness the row. Dawson got a whiff of the number of potentially hostile eyes on him and wisely clammed up. Auburn straightened back, rolling her shoulders and composing herself.

“They still hurt by the way. Even if the scars are invisible. Every death hurts… like you’re dying.” It wasn’t icy, just morose. Ning reached out a tentative hand and touched Auburn’s gauntlet, earning her a thankful smile from the Titan.

There was an interruption of transmat sparks beside them as Auburn’s Ghost appeared, phalanges spinning around his center eye. Scout drifted to his Guardian’s shoulder, even as Ning let out a little gasp, noticing him.

“Amanda’s frames have packed the ship with chutes and oxygen for four.” He reported. “You’re all set.”

Auburn nodded to him. “Thanks.”

He bobbed in acknowledgement, casting his eye across the rest of the group. Ning extended a hand, as if offering to shake, then drew it back self consciously. 

“Hi, I’m Ning.” She introduced herself. 

Scout paused before responding rather uncomfortably. “I know, I have been here the whole time.” He vanished back into the armor in a shower of sparks.

Ning looked crestfallen, and Auburn felt the need to reassure her. “Ghosts don’t usually talk to anyone outside of their paired Guardian, or their fireteam. He doesn’t mean to be crass, he’s just uncomfortable.”

“I don’t mean any harm.” Ning said softly. Auburn put a hand on her shoulder. 

“We know, it’s just safer for Ghosts to be careful. Sorry.” Ning nodded her understanding, and Auburn receded.

“Hang on, he only said oxygen for four, didn’t he?” Era broke in, suspicion creeping into her tone.

“Yes, for the four of you.”

“Won’t you need some too? If we get into trouble?”

“If it gets to that, you all take care of yourselves. It would take a lot for a crash to be my final death.”

Era blinked at the alien concept. “Right…”

“That doesn’t seem fair.” Ning murmured. Auburn consoled her with a grin.

“I’m just a crash test dummy with a smile.” She joked. “Let's get going, keep up the daylight.”

Auburn could feel the discomfort from the group as they packed up and followed her to the hangar. She couldn’t blame them, it was becoming apparent to her as well through the conversations just how little Guardians and City people mingled outside of bars. She tried not to let the feeling get to her, but the itch stayed even when she didn’t scratch it. 

This was going to be a mite awkward


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awkward field trip time, part 1!

They passed hangar security without a hitch and as they had been told, Auburn’s ship was waiting in the nearest non-priority docking bay with the ramp down.

She led them through flight prep, which Dawson and Era already seemed familiar with. The departure was all business, no more chatter or confrontations. Dawson seemed to settle for doing an expert job of whatever she asked him to, showing off or proving himself. Auburn accepted it, certainly preferable to him being an instigator. 

She waited as long as possible to turn on the autopilot, personally navigating the peaks around the City, and setting them on course. She was stalling, yes. There just wasn’t the camaraderie she was used to in an all Guardian fireteam. No half-serious bets on who might die first, how many times, no shouted reminders of past screw ups from cockpit to hold. The banter wasn’t there, and it left Auburn uncertain of how to muster conversation again, so she busied herself with trivial things until she could busy herself no more. She set the cruising altitude, speed, and target coordinates, and left her pilot’s chair, walking back to passenger hold. She stepped in and alighted on the edge of one of the open jumpseats.

“What are you looking for?” Auburn asked, leaning down with her elbows on her knees “A Warmind isn’t exactly a cryptarch or mythkeeper. What do you want to get from this?”

Ning squirmed sheepishly. “I want to know about the end of the war. Our Collapse. Something stopped the Darkness, the Traveler saved us they say. I want to know how. Maybe we can help it do it again, in case something… hits the City again. Now that the Traveler is awake again, maybe it can help us.”

Auburn listened and nodded. “You don’t trust her to just act again, do whatever it takes?”

“Not exactly. I do, but I guess I just realized recently that this is a very important hole in our history. We knew how to stop invasion before, we should be able to have that knowledge again. Sorry, I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense, it’s clearer in my head.”

“No,” Auburn assured her, “it does, I can see the merit. And you want to ask Rasputin because he was there.”

“Right. And he is a machine, with perfect recall. He must have records of everything, especially battles. Hopefully, the last.”

Auburn snickered. “Perfect recall huh? Don’t tell an Exo that.” Ning returned her smile.

“The rest of us are just here to help.” Jaing said. “Era is an old family friend, and she knew Dawson from the militia.”

Dawson rolled his shoulders, metaphorically fluffed his feathers. “I come up with the plans.” He boasted.

Auburn nodded to him. “Alright, good. What is your plan then?” He lifted his chin.

“You take us to his bunker, since you have the most intel on the Warmind. We find the door. Ning gets it open while we cover her. Find the nearest panel inside, disable his defenses, extract the data, and get out. What we need is a location and a layout, which I assume you have.” He replied. His posture oozed overconfidence.

Auburn leaned back, crossed her arms, drew in a deep breath through her nose and sighed.

“That is a terrible plan. What will happen is I will guide you to a door, you will try to hack his system, he will laugh at you in binary and carpet bomb us, and if you make him exceptionally angry he will target us again and kill my Ghost, and none of us will be getting out of here alive. The Vanguard Commander will tell Hawthorne “I told you so” and shut down any further joint missions like this on principle.”

Ning and Era shared a nervous glance. Dawson snorted. “I thought he liked you.”

“Yes, because I _don’t_ hack him. It means he threatens me with orbital bombardment rather than just calling the rain without warning. He has an excessive Guardian body count anyway without adding me to it. It’s why Commander Zavala was so heavily against this operation in the first place.”

“So here is what we will do instead. I’ll make contact with one of his external sensors, ask him if you can have an audience. Format your questions into the most basic text files you can. Have nothing there that even looks like an executable, he will be upset by that. We get to a secure location, transmit your questions, await a response, and go from there. Be prepared for a hot extraction.”

“That sounds riskier. I don’t want my people out in the open.” Dawson challenged. It was hasty, he was being defensive of his position.

“You won’t be, I will. There are plenty of places in the Cosmodrome to tuck away, and I know them like my own backyard. We aren't going to Mars.”

“And if there are Fallen?”

“Then I will kill them all.” She replied impatiently, gesturing to her scout rifle, like it was hardly a question even worth answering. The confidence brought a round of silence. Dawson broke his gaze, submitting, and crossed his arms, staring at a panel across the bay. She let the moment hang, then nodded to them all and stood.

“Got forty-five minutes to go, I’m going to keep an eye on the airspace. Let me know if you need anything.”

She slipped back to the cockpit, settling herself in the pilot’s seat, leaning on the dash, looking between the HUD and the deep sky. For some time, there was solitude.

Ning was the one to approach her, after a while. She leaned against the hull beside the pilot’s seat, pressing herself away from Auburn. “Um. Could I talk with your Ghost? I’ll stay over here. I’ve just never met one…”

“Thats up to him.” Auburn replied gently, glancing to her left, the space she expected he might appear. It was a couple seconds, but he did, shaking himself free of translight sparks.

“Hi.” He began, choppy at first. “Sorry, I’m Scout, what can I help you with?”

“Oh. I guess I just wanted to know what it’s like, being you?” Ning began lamely, as though she hadn’t expected them to say yes.

He considered her with a tilt of his eye, swirling phalanges about. “How would you describe to me what human feels like? How would you compare the raw data of the levels of particulates in the are in the air to the olfactory experience of nearby food, or flowers. Can you describe in numerical terms the relationship of your nervous system and brain?”

Ning’s lip curled up in a frown, but she steadied her course. “I would make it a chart of some sort, probably, that is always easier to understand than raw data. Something that shows a correlation of levels of particles in the air versus when a person can smell it. Only one, since we are all different, and some are more or less sensitive than others. And, no, I cannot, explain the connection of nerves to the brain, but I know a neuroscientist.”

Scout blinked, then pinched his points into a grin Auburn could recognize. 

“I like her.” He sang, buzzing a bit closer. “Well, I exist removed. Most of my time is spent in translight, piggybacking the inputs of my Guardian’s helmet and neural network. I monitor the waves of her Light and decide how much more she can hold at any time. She is a Titan, and collects it well enough ambiently, but I can pull more if she needs it.”

Ning straightened up, engaged. “You are the supplier in that relationship? Is it symbiotic, what is in it for you?”

“I… don’t think about it that way. My needs are simple and irrelevant. I am only a guide.” He seemed uncomfortable again. “But that is just me, other Ghosts may think differently.”

“Okay. Thank you, sorry to bother.” Ning seemed to recognize she was pushing her luck again, and dipped her head. 

“Hold on, it's okay.” Scout assured her. “We are just as different as people are. I can tell you about me, how I am. You will just have to find other Ghosts to coax a conversation from to form a more complete understanding of us as a whole. It should not be hard, for someone so kind.”

Ning blushed, and gathered her courage again. She chattered on, asked about technical parameters, weight and size, how he was able to stay aloft. He gave answers, and though Ning had the sense not to ask if she could hold him, he told her of the taboo to touch another’s Ghost without express permission, for her own future reference.

Auburn left them to it, only half paying attention, enjoying the buzz of casual conversation beside her. She watched the miles tick by, closing in on the Cosmodrome. At ten minutes out, she waved a hand in front of Scout, cutting them off.

“Nearly there, best to gear up.”

Ning bowed in thanks, taking her leave and returning to the others in the back. Scout watched a moment before returning to his Guardian’s side.

“I _do_ like her.” He chirped. Auburn agreed with a knowing grin, even as her helm closed around her head.

Taking the controls, she took them in low, broadcasting her signal openly for Rasputin to see, and praying there were no skiffs around. None on radar, and none appeared during their descent. She set them down atop the plateau that overlooked the Mothyards and the Forgotten Shore. 

She strode from the cockpit, moving past her charges as they took their weapons in their hands.  
There was a shudder in her throat as she passed them and palmed the ramp. It was the heavy lump of responsibility, she felt it like bile. It made her leave the ship with her scout rifle up, scanning the area and checking and double checking places she knew Fallen hid before waving everyone out. 

Era and Dawson did their own sweep, she didn’t blame them. This was probably their first time in openly hostile territory. Jaing and Ning had their weapons in their hands, but pointed down for now. 

“Where are we headed. It’s pretty open up here.” Era asked. 

Auburn pointed to one of the ships, the one with the best functioning radio transmitter. “That’s the one I always use. We’ll get down to there and see if we can’t get him to talk to us.”

“Whats the building on the ridge over there?” Ning asked, pointing with her chin to the horizon.

“Skywatch, you can see his array?”

“Yeah. It looks like it’s in pretty good condition.” She was bobbing on her tiptoes at Auburn’s shoulder, trying to get more of a view.

“It was shut down for a long time, I re-opened it about a decade ago. Mostly by accident.” Ning looked awestruck anyway.

“Thats why he likes you so much?” She asked.

“Maybe some of it. I don’t think he even noticed me at first. Watching it unfurl was like watching a dragon stretch. I was insignificant, he was too busy taking stock of himself.”  
Ning kept her eyes on the array station as the group made their way down a steep embankment towards the ships. They wormed their way through a gully, keeping low around other wrecks, before entering into a rusted hole in the hull. Auburn led the way up the stairs inside, and to the deck. She motioned for everyone to wait, walking out from cover alone.

Scout appeared at her side, moved into position and set to work. Auburn stood between him and the wastes, her body a shield. Ning crept to the doorway and peered out.

“Do you need anything?” She asked, even as Jaing put a hand on her shoulder to pull her back. “I’m good with communication devices.”

“Got it, thanks!” Scout chirped, dipping his phalanges in her direction.

“Looks real open out there.” Dawson muttered.

Auburn chuckled in reply, remaining nonchalant but alert.

“What’s so funny?” He demanded, biting the mild agitation she supposed she’d caused.

“I’ve got full cover from two sides.” She gestured to the upper decks of the ship that curled around her. “It’s better than I usually have in a firefight.”

“You pick horrible positions.”

“Who says I pick? You go where you must, and the fight almost always comes to you.”

Dawson clammed up, probably grumbling to himself, and Auburn settled back into waiting. A minute later, Scout pulled away from the receiver, shrugging. 

“Request was sent, and received. Now we wait.”

Auburn nodded as he returned to translight, and she returned to the doorway, planting herself half in and half out.

“Alright, if he responds kindly, we’ll be heading to the place on the hill over there.” She gestured beyond them, to the wreckage of some kind of building along the coast. “Inside, down a basement, is access to his bunker. There’s a terminal there, it’s probably wise to use that rather than entering. He is armed to the teeth with counter intrusion measures in there, and if you make a mistake I’d rather not risk him being able to take out his anger on you.

“Why don’t we just move now, while it’s clear?” Era asked.

“We could. Don’t know if he’d be open to intrusion yet-” She’s cut off by an alerted chime from Scout. 

“Ships’s scanners are reading a burst of radiation in atmosphere, hang on!” She could sense him checking the readings. She stiffened with anticipation, pushing off the doorframe and getting a look at the sky with her rifle clutched. Her people responded by shifting grips on their own, and looking around themselves.

Ning opened her mouth, “What is-”

“Skiff!” Scout shouted, amplifying his own voice over his Guardian’s helmet audio, the moment before the _WHU-UMP_ sound of a small ship coming out of jump nearby.

“Down!” Auburn barked, waving the startled people into action. Dawson stacked at the door, Era set her sniper on the first windowsill, taking a knee and aiming. Jaing and Ning crouched below the other, keeping their heads down and huddling together.

“Do I shoot?” Era asked, tension in her voice. Auburn wondered in passing if she’d ever seen a Fallen skiff, what exactly she was thinking of aiming at.

“Hold. See if they ignore us first.” Auburn cautioned, remarkably calm. Era gritted her teeth but obliged. 

Auburn took a position beside her at the window, peering out to watch. She held out a hand in a ‘calm’ motion, trying to bring the tension down. The bays of the skiff began to open, like legs of a spider unfurling in the air.

The radio to their left suddenly lit up, long strands of orchestral music filling the air, mixing with a deep Russian voice. Ning yelped, pressing closer to her father. 

“Rasputin, what a time to choose to say hello…” Auburn muttered, she checked the sky for more ships, and saw instead a line of white, streaking down.

“Incoming!” She called. “Heads down, eyes closed!” 

There was a thunderous roar, followed by an explosion and impact that sent shudders through the rusting ship. Jaing wrapped his arms around Ning and pulled them to the deck. Dawson shrieked and Era cursed in four languages from three continents. 

Auburn flinched from the impact, but raised an arm as if to shield her eyes from the sun. “Warsat!” She called. “That’s promising for you.” As the smoke cleared, the rubble of the skiff was revealed, scattered in an impossible radius. At the center, a smoking polygonal hull, remarkably intact. The satellites were designed to take an impact.

“Direct hit too.” She remarked, pointing at the Fallen’s wreckage. Ning and Jiang uncurled, rising to peer out through the window with the others. “ _That_ is why we don’t piss him off.”

“Noted.” Era breathed. “What now?” The surviving Fallen had turned and limped off, receding into whatever holes they could.

“We reposition up to the building on the ridge there. You all cover me while my Ghost extracts whatever he wanted us to get out of this satellite. I bring it back to you and we make a decision based on what we received.” 

She got no arguments, just the shuffling of weapons and checking of clips. The group gathered at the door, Era and Dawson positioned on either side.

Auburn stepped from the side of the vessel, striding out into the middle of the thoroughfare, aiming after the shadows of the receding Fallen. At a signal, her charges skittered from their cover, darting across the bit of open ground to the hill. Once all four were safely up into the shack and out of view, the Titan strode to the warsat and gestured for Scout to begin.

“Its an easy one.” He chirped. “Certainly responding to you. Just a moment.” She stood still in front of him, finger still on a trigger and head on a swivel. She tried to stay patient, but having a group of people to look after again was making her jittery. Scout could feel it. 

“They aren’t plain refugees, you know.” He murmured. “They have guns, and drive. They can keep eyes out for each other too.”

“I know. It doesn’t change that they’re… you know.”

“They wouldn’t like that.”

After she neglected to respond, continued to brood, he pressed on. “What did you learn from the Red War, from walking with the refugees?”

“That a single life is a precious blessing, and should not be wasted. So I will use all that I have to preserve precious lives, until I have none left to give.” She replied, immediately and forcefully. It brought his arguments to a hold.

“That’s fair, I suppose.” He murmured. “I’d hoped you had learned something about being one and the same, without Light.”

“I already knew that. I know I don’t deserve being treated as special. I should live to serve them, certainly not the other way around.”

“Equal doesn’t work that way.” He sighed, giving up. “Just about done, ten seconds more.”

She watched in silence, but Scout finished without a hitch, and she hiked them both back up the hill before any Fallen decided to take a chance and poke their heads out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to finish this before Warmind drops and potentially nukes half the underlying lore in this fic, so here it is! Epilouge posted at the same time so hit that next chapter button!

“Permission granted.” Auburn sang, cresting the hill where her people waited. Ning let out an excited gasp.

“He’s letting us in?”

“Orbital defense grid is turned away for the next hour -barring a Fallen incursion- and he’s given you an access code for sending a message on a remote console. Poor old man must be lonely if he’s this eager for a conversation.”

“But did he say anything?“ Ning asked eagerly, just as Dawson muttered something pessimistic about it possibly being a trap.

“He’s not much of a talker. Kind of have to just interpret his actions.”

Dawson rolled his eyes. “And just not shooting us is a warm welcome?” 

Auburn just shrugged. “That’s the way some people are. Let’s get down there.”

He grumbled but got to his feet, the rest of the group following suit. She led them down the hill and past the smoking and beeping mass of the warsat, along the shore towards the old building that hid an entrance to Rasputin’s bunker. There were no more complaints as she signaled the group to stop at intervals, poking her own head above the rocks that lined the lakeside, scanning for enemies. 

There was a call on the wind, the distant howl of a Fallen Vandal on a scouting run. Auburn halted and shushed the group, shooed them up against a mess of boulders. She checked the ridgelines around them, saw no silhouettes.

“Path to the door is fifty meters that way, we’re going to move quick, get ready.” She commanded, pointing out a gully between two rusted vessels. Her group checked their guns, readied weapons. When all eyes were on her again, she signaled and led them off.

There was a significant amount of tension in her grip, and she could feel the anxiety of the group. The Fallen cry and the episode with the warsat had shaken them, Dawson frequently checked the sky and the others were following suit each time he did. She tried to still her own nerves, to exude an aura of calm confidence. She thought perhaps it worked a little.

Thankfully, they were not harried on the quick dash up the embankments and into the crumbling concrete structure. Auburn led them to the shell of a room, littered with girders and scrap from the roof above. While her people took cover behind sections of wall, breathing and relaxing, she shifted aside a huge panel of rusting corrugated steel and revealed the staircase down. The group winced at the noise.

“Couldn’t be helped.” She apologized, then gestured down. “He’s this way.”

“Glad we have you leading. We’d never have found this.” Ning remarked, checking behind them once more before ducking into the maw, the rest right behind her. There were six flights of stairs, each landing getting dimmer. As they descended the less structural damage there appeared to be, but the more layers of dust settled everywhere. Eventually they reached the basement. Scout materialized ahead of them, floating to the ceiling and expanding his phalanges, casting a dim blue glow across the room. It was in disuse and disrepair, but there were multiple sharp black metal shapes, looming and shimmering with the cast light. Their doors were sealed tight, and vines of pipes and wires fed into the sides and up into the ceiling, trailing off to some unknown hub. 

Auburn strode up to the far door, the one that had a console beside it and a number painted on the front. She brushed a hand over the panel and it flickered to life, Rasputin’s sigil pulsing on the display. The door beside it hissed, and a large clunk resounded as the panels began to fold up and apart, like a butterfly unfurling its wings. Inside was another door, but just before it another screen set into the wall, with a multitude of access ports around it. Auburn gestured to the doorway.

“This is your spot Ning, he’s listening.” The girl carefully stepped over bundles of wiring on the floor, finding a patch of uncovered floor in front of the panel. 

“That’s him in there?” She murmured.

“Probably a very small piece, but if the piece tolerates what you say, I’m sure it will relay it back to him.”

“Okay.” She breathed, setting her bag and gun down, taking out a tablet and powering it up. “Here we go, then, I guess.”

“Scout can put in the comms code for you.” The Ghost dipped from his position as temporary lightbulb, floating over one of Ning’s shoulders. He blinked a couple times, sending quick bursts of data to the tablet, authorization flashing on the screen.

“What are you going to ask?” He questioned.

“What happened, for starters. During the collapse, and after.”

Scout flicked his gaze up at Auburn, a knowing gesture, before silently spinning off to return to the ceiling. She watched him go, shifting a step to take his place at Ning’s shoulder.

“Do you know the date and time you are looking for?” She prodded.

Ning frowned, leaning away defensively. “No, of course not. Why?”

“Rasputin deals in absolutes, don’t give him a point of reference and you’re probably just going to get years of logs, if anything. You need to specify a bit more.”

Ning made a noncommittal noise of frustration, biting her lip in thought.

Auburn gently prodded on. “What do you want to know? What are you hoping to get out of this?”

“I want to know if we still have access to powers that stopped the greatest threat in our history. So if more threats come, like the Red Legion, we can stop them faster, so the City will never fall again.”

Auburn nodded in understanding, gave it a long moment’s thought, before swallowing a sigh and replying. “Then I suppose ask him how the collapse happened, and hope he knows what and when you mean.”

Ning accepted the suggestion, mulled it over in a few beats of silence before blurting. “You don’t seem as...agreeable to this as you did before. What’s wrong?”

Auburn shot her a small smile, remembered she had a helmet on and turned it to a reassuring chuckle. “I just hope you get the answers you want.”

“Do you think he won’t respond?”

She shrugged, stepping away to give her space. “We’ll just have to see.”

Ning made a little sound of annoyance, but sat with it rather than voicing it. Turning her attention back to her tablet, she got to work pecking out a few sentences. It took a few minutes of thought, but she eventually made a noise of contentment, and looked up to her father for approval.

“What do you have?” Jaing walked her way, standing just outside the door, giving her space.

“How did we defeat the Darkness? How did the Traveler force it back? And can we do it again?”

He nodded in agreement, and Ning took a deep breath before tapping the screen and sending her question. She rocked back on her heels and waited. Her anticipation was plain to see, fingers drumming on the back of the tablet.

For a long time, nothing happened at the console, and the group grew a bit restless. Ning sank to the floor, kneeling in wait. Era was bouncing her heel silently, and Dawson was occasionally trying to crack his neck, tilting his head back and forth. Only Jaing seemed perfectly still. Regardless, they all jumped as a sound came from the console, a resounding _clunk_ followed by a bout of Russian orchestra. Ning hesitated for a shocked moment, then leapt to her feet, tucking her tablet into her belt and focusing on Rasputin’s screen.

“It’s mostly Russian, with some international defense code, hang on. At least it wasn't binary.” She squinted at the screen and began to read.

“Promote event to skyshock extinction… That has to be the Darkness arriving. Activate voluspa… Activate yuga… protocols I suppose? Cauterize public sources to secure isis? And harden for defensive action… invoking car-rah-hay white and assuming control of solar defenses.”

“So he attacked the Darkness? Right? We figured.” Dawson summarized

Ning’s face creased in a frown. “I’m not sure, I don’t know what any of these mean, they’re all codenames for subroutines, protocols.” Ning flipped through pages of documentation, skimming them with rapid practiced eye. “Hang on, this references carrhae again. Carrhae white, carrhae black…” 

She settled on one page for a moment, hands hovering over the controls as her eyes darted across the screen. She was silent as she skimmed, until she let out a shuddering gasp, freezing in place.

Dawson tsked impatiently. “Well? What does it say?” Jaing pushed past him and hurried to his daughter’s side.

Ning was staring in shock, fingers shaking. She shook her head, unable to voice it, so Jaing leaned in to see the screen, read it off.

“Under carrhae white or black… if security state is Egyptian, if event rank is skyshock outside context… if a civilization kill event is underway and tactical _morality_ -that sounds… ominous- is built at midnight…”

“Skip to the end.” Dawson snapped. Jaing finished reading it silently, and the hand bracing against the doorframe curled into a fist.

“He shot the Traveler.” He said softly. “She didn’t get wounded, or she did, but it wasn’t the Darkness, it was Rasputin. And that is the reason she stayed. The Traveler tried to abandon us.”

“What? That’s ridiculous!” Dawson rose, pushed past the pair to try to see for himself, glaring at the screen. “Can’t read that.” He spat, shoving himself back out. He pushed Ning into the wall on his way, she didn’t even glance at him, just recited what she’d read.

“Activate Loki Crown, prevent Traveler departure by any means available. Coerce pseudoaltruistic defensive action. Defer civilization kill.”

Jaing squeezed into the doorway, took over reading the information presented.

“After action report. Full caedometric and noetic release successful, 89% impact potential achieved. Traveler exodus halted.”

The silence that fell over the group was palpable. Era broke it by swallowing visibly and putting a hand to her head. The movement was noiseless, but shattered the stillness anyway. Dawson retreated and began to pace, back and forth.

“And now you know what I have known.” Auburn murmured from the corner. She sat with her feet up on a crate, butt of her rifle on the ground and barrel in her grip. She was watching the lot of them at a respectful distance. As she spoke up, all heads turned to her.

“You knew?” Ning sounded hurt. “All along?”

Auburn heaved a long sigh. “Twelve years ago I was born again, not too far from here. The first thing of note that I did in my new life was stumble into the Skywatch, and find analog controls to the old Warmind Array. I woke Rasputin, watched him metaphorically stretch. There was a burst of data my Ghost caught, a whole mess of things that took some time to decode. I guess they had been on his mind when he went dormant, and he didn’t quite have full control while rushing back to fill old empty systems. One of those files was the records you were just given, of the activation of Loki Crown.”

She shook her head sadly, glancing away, could no longer meet Ning’s betrayed eyes. “I’ve lived the past decade with the knowledge that the Traveler did not necessarily save us of her own volition. That she meant to run, and it was Rasputin who stopped her.”

“And you never told _anyone_.” Ning whispered, crestfallen.

“Typical Guardian. Thinking they know what is best for everyone.” Dawson spat. 

The Titan shook her head. “Don’t you understand how integral the Traveler is to the lives of so many people? What would I say? How? When? That our benevolent goddess never intended us to survive? That we owe our lives to an ancient, grumpy AI that really doesn’t care?” 

She pushed herself to her feet. “Because it’s not that simple either. All we have are observations. Warminds deal very directly in factual data. That’s all we have. What we’ll never know is intent. We don’t know for sure the Traveler meant to leave, or if only to move. We don’t know if Rasputin made a snap judgement, a wrong call. All we have is a side of a story. Nothing more.”

Auburn walked over to join the group, her boots heavy on the metal floor. “So. Who do you plan to tell?” 

Ning looked to her father, who did little more than shrug. “I… don’t know yet.” She hesitated. “But someone. I have to tell people something, they deserve to know.”

“Maybe.” Auburn acquiesced. “Twelve years ago I decided things were too fragile, that spreading this knowledge risked unbalancing the delicate society we were in. But things are much different now. Some may say for better, some for worse.” She paused for a long time, considering Ning. The girl didn’t falter. “I will support what you decide.”

Ning nodded appreciatively, and Auburn returned the action.

“Even if it’s not what you want.” Dawson elbowed his way between them, intent to challenge. 

“Cole-” Era protested. He brushed her aside.

Auburn shifted calmly to face him, eye to eye. Her boots brought her to his height. “Have I broken my word yet?”

“You’re a twelve year old in an adult’s body, your word doesn’t matter.”

Auburn’s tone rose a tiny bit, trying to keep from reaching the end of her rope with him. “By one count, perhaps. By another, I am six hundred in a child’s body.”

“You didn’t live those years.”

“I lived twenty-five of them. I was a Golden age child, I died in the collapse. All I remember was running and hoping. ‘The Traveler will protect us’ I thought, I hoped.”

She shook her head, keeping dead set on Dawson’s eyes. “This knowledge shattered the only belief I carried from my old life. I’m not a woman of any faith, I have no god, no spiritual tendencies. I had only hope in the benevolence of our Traveler. Reaching the City and seeing her there, it gave certainty to the hollowness I’d felt since taking a breath again. And I lost that within a month, and had to find something new.”

Auburn moved her gaze across Ning, Jaing, Era. “I didn’t want anyone else to go through that. I carried the burden of my knowledge alone. But I don’t have to anymore. I leave it up to you, all of you.”

Dawson crossed his arms, rocked back on his heels. It broke the tense standoff well enough, and Auburn looked down at her gun.

“There is still something left. We got in, we did it, we must get out. Pack your gear if you are ready to go.” She broke away from the group, heading back to the exit. 

“I need to download this.” Ning said, holding her tablet in front of her, checking if any of the ports were compatible. Scout whirred down beside her.

“I can do that for you, just a moment.” He hovered in front of Rasputin’s computer, extracting the data with bursts of light, before turning to the tablet in Ning’s hands and transmitting it the same way.

“Thank you.” She said, stepping from the doorway. Jaing lingered, glancing back at the console.

“Hold on.” He said, turning fully to check the screen one last time, swiping through the documents. “The answer to your last question?”

The rest of the group paused, glancing at him while gathering up their weapons. He made it to the final page, began to skim it and shivered. “Auburn.”

The Titan paused, glanced over her shoulder, then hurried back to him, spurred on by the serious tone and deathly gaze. She read the single page, the end of a long list of redacted items, their names covered with black rectangles but quantities remaining. Halfway down the list ended, and four lines later one word was written, in Russian.

“What was the last question?” She asked, careful to keep the discomfort to keep her from creeping into her voice.

“Can we -he- do it again?”

“What does it say?” Ning asked, hurriedly pulling it up on the tablet to see for herself. 

“Yes.” Auburn said quietly. “He said yes.”


	4. Epilouge

“Commander.” Zavala was in his usual place, watching the Traveler from the new Tower Walk. She took the slight turn of his head as an invitation to join him. 

The Traveler glowed before them, her many shards circling in the nighttime sky. It felt poetic that she watched this conversation.

“What is on your mind, Titan? Was there an issue with the mission today?”

She chuckled, thinking of Dawson. “Yes, a smartmouth, but he was manageable. It all was, just a bit awkward at first. I hadn’t realized how different we are.”

“It is a lesson we are all coming to terms with, since the Red War.” Zavala agreed. “But I think it is a good one.”

“Yes, it is.” She held her gaze on the cityscape a moment longer before speaking again. “Did you know that long ago, Rasputin shot the Traveler?”

Zavala’s brow pinched, and he took a silent moment to process the sudden question.

“I did not.” He replied, finally. “But I would not find it surprising. Are you certain…?”

“He has logs, from centuries ago. A successful hit.”

Another long pause, she was envious of his poise, when she had found out, she had not taken the revelation so well herself. She hoped suddenly that she would learn to be as strong with age. 

He spoke, finally. “It was centuries ago. Many things change.”

“He could do it again. He did not say he would, but that he could.”

“Was this the purpose of the mission today? This was what they wanted?” There was a slight edge, and Auburn’s mind leapt instinctively to the defense of this latest group of people she had only just met.

“No, no, it wasn’t.” She assured him, hurrying on now. “It was simply the answers to their questions, they were not pleased to hear it either.”

The Commander regarded her from the corner of his eye. “How long have you known?”

“Twelve years.” She admitted, looking down at the railing. “I didn’t know what they were asking him until we were en-route, and I didn’t think they would believe me if I told them what I knew, so I just... did my job.”

“And you did well.” Zavala’s voice was softer. He tore himself away from the railing and faced her with hands clasped behind his back. Patiently, but with soft judgement, he asked, “Why did you decide to keep this to yourself?”

Somehow the quiet disappointment was worse. “I only learned the first part, when I woke Skywatch. Ghost got a bunch of files in a data burst, one of them was about Operation Loki Crown. Rasputin had contingencies programmed, if the Traveler tried to leave, abandon us, he was supposed to shoot it and make it stay and fight. And he did. That means…”

“Not necessarily.” But he did not say it as admonishment, only as observation. Auburn’s eyes rose to meet his.

“I know it wasn’t concrete, but it was enough to scare me, and scare other people. I was afraid it would shake too much. The Speaker, the Vanguard, the Guardians, but mostly the City. The Speaker told me morale was already low when I first rezed. I didn’t want to be the one who brought it even lower.”

The Commander paused a moment before speaking. He glanced out at the plaza, at Guardians and others mingling. “The Consensus would have handled it. But I believe we would have agreed with your judgement not to spread the knowledge.”

She nodded, content. “The people might, now. I left it up to them. I didn’t want the burden anymore. And I think… they have a better understanding of the City than we do, and what her people can take.”

She turned to face the Traveler again, hands on the railing. “And she saved us now, really saved us. And she’s awake now and still here. So maybe, Rasputin was wrong. Maybe it’s all okay. We only had one side of the story, we still need hers to be sure.”

Zavala hummed something that sounded like approval, and Auburn felt her spirits lift.

“You would make a good candidate for Vanguard someday, if we still have them when you are ready.”

She looked up at him in wonderment and surprise. “You think so?” She murmured, and was graced with a fraction of a nod.

The Traveler and the City took her attention again, and warmth filled her chest. “Thank you sir.”

**Author's Note:**

> Been sitting on this for some time, and decided it's gotten long enough to break into chapters. I'm working on the rest, enjoy!


End file.
